It is the usual practice in the installation of an electric meter at the point of use to provide a box into which extend the incoming and out-going electrical cables and to apply to the face of this box the meter for reading the amount of consumption. The box is provided with an annular flange and the meter is provided with a similar flange. The two flanges being held together by a U-shaped band. Originally, the ends of the band were held together by a nut and bolt which allowed the band to be clamped tightly around the flanges and hold the meter firmly in place. In recent years, however, it has been necessary to lock the band in place so that it could not be removed. This was because many unauthorized persons have been entering the meter box and "bypassing" the meter, thus using electricity without it being recorded in the meter. Also, there has been some vandalism in the form of removing the meter and damaging it. Also, an important problem is encountered because of the fact that some customers remove the meter and replace it in inverted condition so that the meter operates in reverse and gives a low reading. In addition, there have been those who actually steal the meter itself for their own purposes. In order to counteract these tendencies, it has been necessary to provide a lock to hold the ends of the band together to prevent removal of the meter from the box. At one time it was only necessary to provide a lock having a seal, so that it would be evident that the lock had been tampered with, but it has been found that a simple seal is often not sufficient to discourage those who wish to gain entry to the meter and the meter box. One of the problems that has been encountered in attempting to design a practical lock for this purpose has been the fact that, if an edge of the band is available and accessible, it is possible to cut the band with a pair of strong tin snips or aircraft shears. Furthermore, while many ingenious locks have been conceived for this purpose, most of them are quite expensive and, because of a complexity of their mechanism, they have been relatively difficult to install or remove by the legitimate meter technician. After all, part of the problem is the fact that, even though the would-be thief is not able to dismantle the lock and the band, nevertheless he can do so much damage to the lock that is difficult for the legitimate electrical installer to later obtain access to the meter. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a meter lock which is difficult for an unauthorized person to dismantle for access to the meter and relatively easy to install or remove by an authorized person.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a meter lock which is simply in construction and which can withstand a considerable amount of abuse without being rendered inoperative.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a meter lock using a sheet metal band in which access to an edge of the band for the purpose of cutting is rendered difficult.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a meter lock which is inexpensive to manufacture and which is capable of a long life of useful services with a minimum of maintenance.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a meter lock which is provided with an unlocking key and in which the key hole is incapable of being jammed.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a meter lock which is capable of being provided with a seal to show the presence of tampering, but in which the removal of the seal does not render the opening of the lock substantially easier by an unauthorized person.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a meter lock which, from the nature of its design, is capable of being constructed of a small number of very strong, simple, and rugged parts.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a meter lock consisting of a small number of readily-replaceable elements.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a meter lock which may be sealed prior to installation, wherein the seal is in full view at all times, which is easy to install, in which installation does not require a key (so that a minimum number of keys are in circulation).